The question was asked almost 8 years ago, now Ubuntu 19 is available, but there is still a mess with VPN GUI in Linux world. I have recently tested different distributions, and here are the results.
Below are problems that you might experience:
- OpenVPN GUI doesn't let you create a connection without certificate even when you need only username/password authentication (GNOME Network Manager).
- PPTP GUI doesn't have fields (!) for entering gateway address, username and password (GNOME Network Manager installed in Lubuntu).
- PPTP connection can be created but doesn't work.
- PPTP connection can be created, but doesn't work if started from tray icon, only works if started from Network Settings dialog box (Mint Cinnamon 19.3).
- By default there is no GUI for managing VPN connections (Lubuntu).
You can, of course, like me, try adding different repos, play with different versions of those GUIs, debug connections, etc.
I found that only in KDE VPN GUI is reliable. Connection manager in current MX Linux (19.1) works fine.
But in case you have GUI problem I suggest you go reliable way - create connection without GUI. This requires minimal time and is pretty simple. Example is taken from this manual.
Create connection file /etc/ppp/peers/your_connection_name
, with this contents:
pty "pptp your_vpn_hostname --nolaunchpppd --debug"
name your_username
password your_password
remotename PPTP
require-mppe-128
require-mschap-v2
refuse-eap
refuse-pap
refuse-chap
refuse-mschap
noauth
debug
persist
maxfail 0
defaultroute
replacedefaultroute
usepeerdns
You might want to secure it with chmod
as described in the article. To start connection use sudo pon your_connection_name
, and sudo poff your_connection_name
to stop.
You can check connection status with ip a
, monitor connection progress with watch 'ip a | grep ppp'
, or check statistics with pppstats
.
You might find some more complex and probably more correct ways of defining VPN connection without GUI, but this one is very simple and straightforward - just what typical GUI user is looking for.